


The Unsolved Case

by fandomgeek14



Category: Endeavour (TV), Inspector Morse (TV), Lewis (TV)
Genre: F/M, also includes flashbacks to Endeavour along with references to endeavour, mainly because of ocs that are not cannon obviously, so spoilers, thursday is mentioned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-08 23:31:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17990582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomgeek14/pseuds/fandomgeek14
Summary: the year 2000, Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse dies of a heart attack, leaving behind a twenty year old daughter and the case of her mother's death unsolved.Six years later, the now 26 year old DC Katie Morse is on the case, determined to solve it once and for all.





	1. The Worst Day

**2000, Cambridge University:**

"-I get it, you need to solve whoever killed that Yvonne person and you never let a case go unsolved but can't you let uncle Robbie head this one?" 

"-I know you've been taking it easy, hell you've even taken up bird watching! just try not to die on the job okay?" 

"- and I'm your daughter who is currently studying Law, 84 miles away from you at Cambridge University so I'm allowed to worry"

"- I'm determined to go into law even if it kills me, and before you ask everything is perfectly fine here, I've already been here for one year and besides I'm coming home this weekend so it won't be too long until I'm back on the old stomping grounds helping you out with the latest crossword puzzle" 

"-I'm not sounding like granddad Fred or grandma Win"

"- I love you too? I don't think you've ever said that to me out loud before, are you sure everything alright? because if you're feeling worse for wear i'll get the next train to Oxford and be there today" 

"- okay, if you say so, love you dad and I'll speak to you when you get back from the college"

"-bye" 

Katie Morse hung up the phone reluctantly and placed it onto the cushion next to her and returned to her studying. She missed oxford and she was worried about her dad's declining health but she had to put that to the back of her mind, and focus on the more important task, that's one of the many things her dad taught her and right now the more important task was studying for a mock exam coming up the following afternoon. however it was proving a hard thing to do with the feeling of dread running through her and no matter how hard she tried she could not focus on her practice paper. 

"Katie, what's going on?" one of her friends Amelia asked from the opposite settee of the common room, looking up from her book

"oh just my dad ringing to check up on me- he seems to be doing that a lot lately, although, that conversation was weird" 

"how so?" 

"I don't know it just felt off- he told me he was proud of me and that he loved me" 

"and that's weird because?"

"my dad hasn't said that to me outright in fifteen years" 

"maybe he's getting sentimental, or a midlife crisis"

"must be it"

"hey lets face it this way,  from what you've told me he's most likely not going anywhere anytime soon, like you said he's dodged death so many times he probably won't stop now" 

Katie forced a smile.

"yeah, now we really have to study, i'm stuck on question twelve"

Katie put her father's odd phone call to the back of her mind. besides, it was not like he was going to drop down dead in the next few hours.

that would be absurd. 

 

the following morning, Katie was awakened by a knock on the door of her dorm room, she got up upon the second knock, pulled down her pink pyjama top and trouser legs that must have ridden up in her sleep and walked over to the door, opening it slowly to be greeted by two police officers. One of which she recognised as the Superintendent from Thames Valley Police and her father's old friend Jim Strange and the other must have been from the security around campus or police in Cambridge. 

"uncle Jim? why are you up here in Cambridge?" She managed to stutter out confused 

"Katie, may we come in?" 

"of course, sorry for the mess, I've got a mock exam this afternoon, a pretty big one actually I was up studying most of the night"

the two men walked inside. 

“Uncle Jim what’s going on?” 

“It’s best if you sit down, Katie” 

Katie did as she was told, sitting on her bed whilst Inspector Strange pulled up a chair and sat opposite her.

“Katie, your father passed away early this morning” 

Katie was in disbelief. She couldn’t believe it. Her father? Dead? That couldn’t be right, she only spoke to him yesterday evening.

”how?” Is all she could manage

”he suffered a heart attack and the doctors did all they could but he just didn’t make it through” Strange explained

No goodbyes. No reassurance it’ll be alright. No phone call from the Radcliffe to tell her what was going on. Just like that she was alone in the world. 

“what do I do?” She whispers quietly, her voice broken.

“You don’t have to take the exam if you are in no fit state to do so. I will make sure of that. But it’s up to you”

”I want to go home- someone has to box up his stuff and look after the car, let alone all the other stuff I have to do”

“Take your time we’ll be waiting outside” Strange said with an understanding nod. the superintendent and the other police officer (why he was there, Katie didn’t know but she assumed it was protocol) upped and left the room leaving the door with a click.

She sat there for a few seconds unsure of what to do, or where to start before her brain caught up with her and she started to pack. Just a few bits and bobs she’d come back to university soon, so there wasn’t any need to pack everything yet. When she was done she picked it up her suitcase, locked her room door and went down  to the police car waiting outside the university doors. As she was walking she  saw a group of her friends in the quad of the university, Amelia was there, along with a few of her other friends, Sammie, Lira and the oldest of the group James. They shot her a look of questioning as she approached them quickly.

”Katie? What’s going on? Why is there a police car outside?” Sammie asked

”I-I’m taking a few days off”

”are you in trouble?”’ Lira questioned

Katie didn’t answer 

“is there anything we can do?” James asked as if he could tell what was going on. Of course he could, James Hathaway had lost his mum a year ago so he knew that dead parent look well and she supposed studying Theology doing a year in the seminary causes him to see a few grieving individuals.

 “Could you make sure my room isn’t broken into? it’s still got a few things in there” 

“of course” her blond haired friend smiled  at her sympathetically 

“I’ll see you all soon. Although I’m not sure when I’ll be back” 

“bye Katie” 

Katie walked to the police car, putting her suitcase in the boot and git into the backseat. The car drove off, leaving Cambridge university behind her, Katie leaned her head against the window and finally allowed the tears to fall. 

 

 

 


	2. familiar circumstances

**2006, Thames Valley Police, Oxford:**

DC Katie Morse bushed a stray strand of auburn hair back from her face and behind her ear as she sat reading though a pile of paperwork. she hated paperwork, she'd been sat at that desk for four hours straight riffling through the paper copies for documents that were on the computer and she was bored. 

"'ello Katie just thought I'd check on how the paperwork was going?" 

Katie looked up to see Inspector Robert Lewis, her father's old bagman and best friend and her new boss.  

"oh hi sir, it's paperwork, so it's boring and I think Innocent just put me on it because she dislikes me"

"Innocent doesn't dislike you"

"maybe not, but I literally would do anything other than paperwork, I finally get why my dad hated general duties" 

"it's a necessary evil of the world"

 another voice entered the conversation and DS Hathaway joined in handing a cup of coffee to Katie and one to Lewis. 

"DS James Hathaway you are a literal life saver!" Katie said smiling at the cup of coffee in her hand 

Hathaway and Katie had known each other since their Cambridge university days, despite Katie being two years younger, they'd somehow become  friends (Katie attributed it to their oxford upbringing despite even that being quite different) and even after Katie dropped out due to personal issues early in her second year, she'd remained in contact with James. but it was to Hathaway's surprise when she turned up at Thames Valley a few months after him as he'd assumed she had stepped away completely with dealing with the law in a professional way when she had dropped out. and it was to Katie's surprise Hathaway had gone from Priest in training to Police Sergeant in a matter of a few years, and all she had gotten out of him was that he just didn't feel like becoming a priest anymore, no matter, she and him were a team at uni and a team they would stay.  

"I wouldn't go that far" Hathaway smiled "and yes, before you ask I put three sachets of sugar in it, and you call me strange for my taste in music" 

"I'm not weird, just don't like the bitterness of coffee"

"at least you can have a coffee break now"

"yeah- I-" 

"sir there's been a call. a death in Jericho, you three are on it" an officer poked his head in in a rush. 

"so much for a break" Lewis sighed "come on you two looks like we're needed" 

Katie put her mug down, got up, grabbed her coat and headed out of the door following DS Hathaway and Inspector Lewis. unsure of what to find. 

 

* * *

 

The three of them entered the last of a block of houses in Jericho after being debriefed by the first officer on scene. the victim was 40 year old Jessie Hilton, single mother found in the kitchen early this evening. The first thing Katie noticed was the little boy covered in blood being consoled by a paramedic. he was in blue pyjamas and couldn't be more than five or six, she felt a lot of sympathy for the boy, finding his  mother dead was not a nice experience and not one a child should ever have to go through, she knew that very well. The next thing she noticed was the way the mother had been killed as they walked through to the kitchen.

"single gun wound to the side with an exit wound, shot from about where DC Morse is standing" the pathologist, Laura Hobson was telling the boys ahead of her

"time of death?" Lewis asked

"6:17 this afternoon- the bullet shattered the clock on the oven and it would have been a slow death, poor woman shame nobody found her sooner. oh and this was found in her hand"

Katie was handed a note with the words 'you thought it was over?' scribbled on it.

"i wonder who that was intended for" Katie said

"sounds like a threat" Lewis said 

"a threat to her?" Hathaway questioned

"we'd better get it tested along with the bullet" Katie said 

"I'll run the bullet through once I've finished the postmortem. should be done about ten" Laura left the room after Lewis had nodded a yes to that. 

"we should speak her parents and the son" Hathaway said 

"then run it down with Innocent and see if we can get CCTV of the area" Lewis added to James "Katie and I can speak to the family" 

Hathaway nodded and left the room and Lewis looked at Katie.

"are you alright?"

"yeah, just- that boy found his mum. he can't be more than five or six- and the way she was killed- it's just, hard but it's probably a coincidence that's getting too me a little more due to the timing. I'll be fine" 

"no need to take you off the case? you don't have to do it if you don't want to" 

"no. I can't be sat on  desk duty any longer and I need to keep my mind busy especially around this time of year"

Lewis looked concerned at the young detective. a murder like this was too similar to the one she had found herself involved in nearly 21 years ago and if it reminded him of that event (which it did even though he was not there at the time) then god knows what was going on in Katie's mind right now, but he didn't want to push it. 

"all right, but if you do need to speak to anyone at any point or need drop out of the case then tell me immediately- I don't want you to bottle your feelings up like your dad did or have replay of what you did in 1992"

"okay, lucky for you, I'm much more like my mum that way and that was a one time thing when I was twelve, uncle Robbie, don't worry but this whole crime scene it's probably a cosmic coincidence or something"

the forensics came into the room and Lewis and Katie took that as a sign to start to ask the family the usual police questions.  

 

Two hours later, Katie returned to her desk at the station with the statements, all claiming that Jessie was a lovely woman who would never do anything to upset anyone although there was the mention of her ex-husband, from her second marriage, Josh Dennings, who had mysteriously upped and left three months ago. they'd have to follow that up tomorrow and see if he knew anything. she arrived at her desk to find a parcel there, curious, she opened it to find a bunch of leather notebooks. a letter fell out of the book, the handwriting was immedately recognisable and she opened the letter. 

'Katie Morse, 

I was asked by an old friend of mine to deliver these to you when I thought you were ready to have them. The books are diaries stretching over the course of twenty years written by your mother, Jemma Thursday from 1965 through to 1985. they proved enlightening for me and I hope they prove enlightening to you.

-J.S'  

J.S? why didn't her uncle Jim just use his full name? and how did he get his hands on her mother's diaries?. Katie skimmed through the books and sure enough it was full of diary entries indeed written in her mother's handwriting. she sat down to read them, ignoring the statements on her desk. 

one question lingered in her mind.

'why now?' 


	3. The bullet tells all

A question is what woke Katie up the next morning.

“Have you been here all night?”

The voice was clear even though her head was groggy from sleep and she looked up still half asleep to find it came from DS Hathaway who was stood in front of her desk looking down at her, with a cup of coffee in a polystyrene cup and a lid

“Well I had a lot of work to do and thought I’d do some digging”

“Did you find anything?”

“No. Nothing”

Hathaway handed her the cup and she took a sip of the hot liquid burning her tongue a bit in the process

“Hobson and Lewis are waiting for us in the morgue- results are through on the bullet”

“Okay! Great let’s go”

Katie leaped up from her seat and went to leave but Hathaway stopped her

“Katie are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yes- honestly I got it from Lewis yesterday”

“You’re constantly rushing about to an extent that I’ve never seen you before you’re never like this”

“I’m fine, stop dawdling James”

Hathaway froze for a millisecond. Katie always called him justHathaway or ‘DS James Hathaway’. never just James. He wondered if she had noticed she’d done that. He wondered if she’d done it on purpose as if maybe she had feelings for him- but He mentally told himself not to get distracted by his ever growing crush on his friend and reminded himself that he had to put his feelings to the back of his mind and focus on the case.

“Hathaway”

He hurried out of the door after Katie.

The two detectives arrived in the morgue to find Doctor Hobson and Lewis waiting.

The post-mortem was as they’d suspected with nothing out of the ordinary in the case of the way she was killed. Boring. But it was a really brutal death and Katie was glad she did not have her father’s weak stomach for that kind of injury otherwise she would have probably fainted when Laura pointed out the massive would caused by the bullet and the fact the victim had ripped the wound when she had moved to get a cloth to stop the bleeding.

“Hathaway said you have the results of the bullet Doctor Hobson?”

“According to forensics it’s a 32 calibre bullet shot from a 1910 revolver”

“1910?” Hathaway said “that’s almost a hundred years old- I wouldn’t thought it would work”

“Depends on how well maintained it is” Katie replied

“I’ve only ever seen one like that before. back in the 1980s in a casefile”

“The guys upstairs were positive it’s the same gun that very case” Laura said

“What case in the 80s?” Katie questioned

“The murder of DS Jemma Thursday” Lewis said cautiously as if not upset her.

Katie raised her eyebrows in shock. It was not a coincidence. There was a connection. Those two cases are connected. Solve this case and she may just solve the case that made her grow up too fast.

“Twenty one years later and it’s time for round two”

The three colleges all turned to the young detective

“We’re going to get the bastard”

“Katie you should technically be taken off the case- it’s personal and i don’t think innocent will let-” Hathaway said

“No. We’ve been given a second chance. If my dad were here then he wouldn’t give a damn about the rules and he’d take the chance so that’s what I’m doing”

“Well then, I think you know what we need to do next” Lewis said knowing that there was no use arguing with Katie. She could be stubborn when she puts her mind to it.

Katie nodded

“Time to talk to grandad Fred”

 

 


End file.
